Public release date: 6-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Diana Soltesz diana@dsmmedia.com 818-592-6747 Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) LOS ANGELES (March 6, 2012) Due to overwhelming clinical results, neurologists should advocate for early surgical evaluation of patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), according to physicians and co-authors Roger J. Lewis, M.D., Ph.D., an emergency medicine physician and expert in clinical trial design at Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California, and Donald L. Schomer, M.D., a neurologist at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). In an editorial in the March 7 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Drs. Lewis and Schomer say the results from the trial reported in this issue warrant the recommendation despite the fact the study was terminated early due to low enrollment. "Seventy-three percent of the patients who had surgery were seizure-free after two years. In the same time period, zero patients who were surgery eligible but for whom surgery was delayed were seizure-free," says Dr. Schomer, a Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. "With more than 2 million people in the U.S. affected by … Continue reading →

Some Patients May Be Surgical Candidates Soon After Failing Drugs March 6, 2012 -- Brain surgery is generally considered a last resort for some epilepsy patients whose seizures are not controlled with drugs, but performing surgery earlier may prevent years of suffering, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Only a small percentage of patients with seizures that cant be controlled by medications are ever referred to an epilepsy center that offers surgery. Those who are referred have often had uncontrolled seizures for several decades. In the new multi-center study, almost all patients who had surgery much earlier in the course of their disease were seizure-free two years later, while none of the patients who did not have surgery were free of seizures. The study was small, but researchers say the findings confirm that early surgical intervention offers certain epilepsy patients the best opportunity to avoid a lifetime of disability. There is a misconception that epilepsy is not serious enough to warrant brain surgery, but it is, says researcher Jerome Engel Jr., MD, PhD, of the UCLA Seizure Disorder Center. People die from this disorder. Yet, less than 1% of people with drug-resistant epilepsy … Continue reading →

Public release date: 6-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Mark Wheeler mwheeler@mednet.ucla.edu 310-794-2265 University of California - Los Angeles While the thought of any type of surgery can be disconcerting, the thought of brain surgery can be downright frightening. But for people with a particular form of epilepsy, surgical intervention can literally be life-restoring. Yet among people who suffer from what's known as medically intractable epilepsy, in which seizures are resistant to drugs, only a small fraction will seek surgery, seeing it only as a last resort. As a result, they continue to suffer seizures year after year. They can't drive, they can't work and they lose cognitive function as the years pass. Premature death is not uncommon. But a multi-center study led by researchers at UCLA shows that for people suffering from intractable temporal lobe epilepsy, the most common form of intractable epilepsy, early surgical intervention followed by antiepileptic drugs stopped their seizures, improved their quality of life and helped them avoid decades of disability. The report appears in the March 7 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "In short, they got their lives back," said Dr. Jerome Engel, the study's principal investigator and … Continue reading →

TUESDAY, March 6 (HealthDay News) -- Uncontrollable temporal lobe epilepsy affected almost every major aspect of John Keener's life. Despite trying medication after medication, Keener had to give up driving after he had a serious accident while having a seizure. Because he couldn't drive, he had to drop out of college. Dating seemed an insurmountable challenge because Keener never knew when he might have a seizure. But in 2006 his "life completely changed" when he underwent surgery for his epilepsy. "Surgery made a huge difference in my life," said Keener, of Camarillo, Calif. Once he got his license back, he was able to start his own business, and he and his girlfriend, Christine Smith, are celebrating their one-year anniversary. "Epilepsy is a serious condition and in approximately one-third of patients it won't be controlled by their medications," explained Dr. Jerome Engel Jr., director of the Seizure Disorder Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. "The longer someone waits for surgery when medications aren't working, the less the chance you can help them live a normal life. But, for people with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, there's about an 80 percent chance of becoming seizure-free after surgery." Engel is the lead … Continue reading →

Public release date: 6-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Mark Wheeler MWheeler@mednet.ucla.edu 310-794-2265 JAMA and Archives Journals CHICAGO Patients with epilepsy who underwent brain surgery soon after failing to respond to drug treatment, but who also continued to receive drug therapy, had a lower risk of seizures during the 2nd year of follow-up compared to patients who received drug treatment alone, according to a study in the March 7 issue of JAMA. "Epilepsy is a worldwide serious health concern, accounting for 1 percent of the global burden of disease, equivalent to lung cancer in men and breast cancer in women. The 20 percent to 40 percent of patients who have medically intractable epilepsy account for 80 percent of the cost of epilepsy. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common cause of drug-resistant seizures, but it can be treated surgically," according to background information in the article. The American Academy of Neurology practice parameter recommends surgery as the treatment of choice for medically intractable TLE, but use of this treatment is delayed and underutilized. Patients who are referred for surgery have had epilepsy for an average of 22 years, more than 10 years after failure of 2 antiepileptic … Continue reading →

Mental health advocates want the state to revise the proposed autism-treatment law to require health insurance to cover mental illness. They endorse the legislation to mandate that private insurance providers cover autism related-disorders, but say mental health disorders need equal coverage. Michael Brashears, executive director of Community Mental Health in Ottawa County, said the biggest problem in his county is not just autism, but also other moderate mental conditions. Autism is not more severe than other disorders. We see more cases of moderate forms of developmental disabilities such as conduct disorder, depressive disorders and anxiety that affect both children and adults in our areas, he said. Gov. Rick Snyder has endorsed legislation to require private health insurance to cover autism treatment. Brashears noted that private and public insurance and Medicaid cover only severe mental disorders, while people with moderate conditions who dont have insurance or whose private insurance doesnt cover their condition are left on their own. Why do we force people to become extremely ill when we can treat them with moderate conditions? We wait until the emergency level, and at this point the treatment costs more and can be less successful, Brashears said. Robert Sprague, executive director of … Continue reading →

Public release date: 6-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Dr. Hilary Glover hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com 44-203-192-2370 BioMed Central Thromboembolic stroke, caused by a blood clot in the brain, results in damage to the parts of the brain starved of oxygen. Breaking up the clot with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) reduces the amount of damage, however, there is a very short time window when the value of the treatment outweighs the side effects. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Experimental & Translational Stroke Medicine shows that, during the first 24 hours after a stroke, mild hypothermia (34C) can reduce the side effects of tPA and potentially increase the window of opportunity for tPA treatment. When a blood clot blocks off blood flow in the brain (ischemic stroke) the part starved of oxygen quickly begins to die. In order to prevent significant damage tPA must be given to the patient as early as possible after the onset of symptoms - doctors recommend that it must be administered within the first four and a half hours. Delayed treatment also increases the patient's risk of intracerebral hemorrhage and brain swelling (edema). Mild hyperthermia is known to be neuroprotective and to reduce … Continue reading →